Shift your paradigm

In Episode 21,  we return to Maine and a second visit with RSU 2 (Regional School Unit 2). You may recall earlier in Episode 6 we spoke with superintendent Bill Zima, and Mark Tinkham, principal. With this episode we dig more deeply into what learning looks like in RSU 2 through the eyes of two learners/graduates: Will Fahy and Rose Warren.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders listen to learners and support them as they develop agency.

Takeaways

Students at RS2 relate their learning to freedom, exploration, and flexibility.  Teachers empower learners to utilize their choice, voice, and freedom as they move along their learning path.

Learners value being empowered and learning about topics which are of interest to them. For example, Rose, redesigned the school’s health curriculum to be more inclusive of the LGBT community. Will studied food science and investigated perceptions of people and how they viewed processed food. Students select project ideas at the end of their junior year, and they work with their advisors to develop the idea for a Capstone Project.

Capstone projects are facilitated through Google Classroom, where students submit and edit proposals. Every Capstone Project includes goals, has a research component, at least 15 hours of field work/interviews in the chosen topic, and a 25-minute oral presentation. A capstone Committee of teachers and administrators facilitate the Google Classroom, and the research paper is embedded in the senior English course. During the presentation, two staff members assess the project. Following the presentation, the student participates in a reflective exit conference which contributes to the final assigned grade.

On presentation day, underclassmen register to view several different presentations. This allows underclassmen to learn more about the process and the outcomes so they have experience from which to draw when they create their Capstone Proposals and Projects.

Time management and motivation can be two potential challenges in this learner-centered environment. Because the students own the learning, these factors are internal. Some students may need more support. Rose suggested one way to combat these challenges is to encourage learners to learn about something they really like and connect to.

Learners have opportunities to hold themselves accountable for their learning. Rose wanted to be engaged in literature class discussion so she completed the reading. Will genuinely wanted to see how his experiment unfolded so he developed the work to satisfy his personal inquiry.  As he truly enjoys learning, he became a member of Academic Decathalon with the sole purpose of expanding his knowledge (India, World War II.) Loving to learn has prepared him for college.

Does voice and choice exist across the organization? Yes.  For example, in AP Language Rose learned about genetics through art. Rose suggested completing a project in which the students developed an art project instead of an essay.  The teacher was open to and supported this idea.  Teachers are open to feedback from the learners about the content.

Thinking about the idea of leadership, what other opportunities are available to develop leadership?  Rose shared examples of students leading clubs, and Will shared an example in which he took the leadership role to build some of the content for the courses and Robotics Club. Everyone is encouraged to assume a leadership role.

Developing connections with faculty is imperative. Rose shared, “Students can work with teachers and administrators and do something they are passionate about – if they just ask.” She shared insight about how students contributed to ideas about events such as a Courageous Conversation Event.

Bill reminds us to “Listen to the learners. We can’t give them agency. They have to develop it themselves.”

Connections to Practice

• How can we provide more opportunities to listen to learners?  We have the Superintendent Advisory Council and recently added a high school social media council. What else can we do?  If we want to hear more about food service from our kids, could we create a child nutrition focus group?
• Is our curriculum biased towards one group of stakeholders?
• What opportunities do our students, K-12, have to work on extended projects connected to interests and passions? As we develop more opportunities, how do we ensure that we engage them in the design process?

Questions Based on Our Context

• Years ago, we discontinued the graduation project. How could our students benefit from a Capstone Project?
• How often do our students learn about topics in which they are interested?
• What barriers would need to be navigated in order to implement a Capstone Project or similar project?
• Would our students say they have voice and choice in some or most courses? How do we more actively listen to our learners?
• As leaders, how do we help everyone in the organization – teachers, leaders, parents – assume more agency? Is this an opportunity to practice enrollment?

Next Steps for Us

• Engage learners in a conversation around the concept of a Capstone project.
• Brainstorm a list of areas of focus in the district and schools that we want to engage the voice of our learners as we build the idea of agency in each of them.
• Intentionally create opportunities throughout the grade spans for learners to engage in extended projects that connect to interests and passions.

Episode 19 takes us to NH and the MC2 charter school where learning, knowledge, assessment and community operate at the core mission of the school.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders create the space and provide supports for learners to solve their own problems.

Takeaways

Learners are key partners in the learning process. At MC2, advisors help learners understand their personal passions, learning styles, strengths/challenges, and interests both explicitly and implicitly.

In MC2, learners are connected to their communities and learn through learner-identified community issues and problems, and they seek to add value.

The learning environment at MC2 is designed to ensure that all learners have the capacity to function in any learning environment.   Everyone is a learner (including advisors – or teachers), co-learning with younger learners. If a learner proposes inquiry on a topic the advisor may not have content knowledge in, the advisor and learner become co-learners, engaging ever-important skills in how to learn.

The four elements – learning, knowledge, assessment, community – are intertwined. For example, during a defense of learning (which is an assessment), community members are involved in providing feedback to the learning process and knowledge acquired.   MC2 uses rubrics to measure their 17 habits of mind such as curiosity/wonder, organization, critical thinking, etc. Each habit has a rubric – scaffolded progression of the habits – from emergence to lifelong.

Competency is represented at MC2 in phases (instead of grade levels) – Phase I, II, III, IV. Learners develop a gateway portfolio and deliver a gateway presentation to move to the next phase. There are no time constraints on any of the phases.   Learning is broken down into phases: designing, constructing, applying, documenting, defending. Portfolios and exhibitions are a part of the defending phase.

MC2 has framed transformation through several ways:

• assessment (as described above in the gateway process on school-wide rubrics for habits)
• authority/control – Where does authority stem from, and what does it say about relationships?
• expertise – Who is the expert, and how do we recognize the expertise of community partners who are applying discipline knowledge in practical ways?
• Assignments are assessed and given feedback to make the project better. This goes beyond simply grading as is done in the traditional grading system.

Things that don’t make sense are let go! MC2 let go of grades and grading. They recognize though, when you let go, other structures  need to be embedded to support the transition from what they know to a new way of working.

MC2 did experience some barriers to transformation: unlearning from the old paradigm – recognize, unlearn, relearn; parent involvement in the learning of their children; helping learners understand how to manage up.   Challenges become lessened as the the culture grows and they build sustainability.  They are working to develop the mindset that learners do well if they can; not if they want to.  This is important distinction for advisors and learners to understand.

Learners are leaders, but there are distinctions between being a leader and exercising leadership. Leadership means taking responsibility for what matters to you. We all have the opportunity and responsibility to exercise leadership. MC2 works to develop the habit of leadership through explicit opportunities in which learners exercise leadership through their strengths. For example, students may lead their own discussion in an English course. Students are required to take on a leadership role, and MC2 does not articulate when, how, or where that happens. While some students may lead from a stage, others may lead behind the scenes by supporting peers.  Another way learners exercised leadership is through the development of a Learner Bill of Rights  which articulates the learners’ rights and responsibilities.

A compelling mission and vision for learning is important but should be tempered with humility.  We are all learners and we are all curious. We need to stick with it, but also be able to step back and reflect on our work.  Leaders work to develop the skills and capacity for empathy in learners, teachers and the community. The curiosity and humility factors are important in building a skill for empathy.  Additionally, leaders need to step back and listen.    If leaders create the space and provide the supports for learners to solve their own problems, learners will solve their own problems. The more they solve their own problems, the greater competence they feel to take action in their own world.

Connections to Practice

We have identified clear skills for our learners through our Profile of a Graduate. Should we consider developing a district-wide rubric for each of the skills? What process would we use to develop those rubrics?

As we move towards personalization, we nee to get to know our learners. How well do our teachers know their learners? Do we encourage teachers to find the time to get to know their learners. What community-building and intrapersonal activities do our learners do throughout their years.

Our elementary students are Leader in Me schools. How do we build structures for our K-12 students to understand leadership and grow in those skills?

How could we connect the Learner Bill of RIghts in our district? What would our learners articulate as their rights and responsibilities?  Would our teachers and leaders agree? What process could we utilize to develop this powerful tool?

Questions Based on Our Context:

• How do we model being co-learners engaged in inquiry with our younger learners? How do we model learning?
• What conditions do we set in our organizations to promote learning up and down the organization?
• What do we explicitly do to learn about our learners – assessment of learner strengths and needs?
• What mechanisms do we have in place that send a message of authority and control?
• What if we provided the opportunity for our learners to design a Learner Bill of Rights?

Next Steps for Us:

• Talk with Superintendent Advisory Council about the Learner Bill of Rights?
• Engage in conversation with the Leading #YourSalisbury team about the development of K-12 rubrics for the skills identified in the Profile of a Graduate.

 

 

In Episode 18, we had a conversation with leaders and learners from Lindsay Unified School District in CA. Barry Sommer, Director of Advancement; Amalia Lopez, Curriculum and Instruction Specialist; and Lewis Cha, learner, shared a snapshot of learning in Lindsay through the lenses of both the learner and leader.  The highlighted the importance of leaders providing time for transformation to occur, the value of stakeholder buy-in to the vision, the centrality of agency and competency, the importance of a common lexicon as the foundation for cultural shifts, among other learner-centered topics.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders begin and stay with the learner at the center of the work. They align every decision, every purchase, every hire to the needs of the learners.

Takeaways

We started the conversation by talking with a learner, Lewis.  He shared, in Lindsay, learners are provided the space to learn at their own pace. For example, Lewis was able to move to the next level of math when he finished one target. He also talked about the valuable learning experience of his year-long engineering project in which his group engineered a sustainable shelter for the homeless. In addition to designing the structure, the team constructed a mock up building. Finally, he highlighted Lindsay encourages learners to develop their own passions. Students are encouraged to aim for the best and complete targets.

The transformation journey requires extensive time and conversations. Back in 2006, Lindsay reflected critically on the district’s work. Graduates were struggling, and assessment scores were decreasing. As a result, Lindsay organized councils of diverse stakeholders to develop a Strategic Design for Lindsay.  As a result of asking many questions and listening to many stakeholders, the district created a blueprint of core values with an emphasis on life-long learning. The Strategic Design will not change – instead it is a foundational document which the district constantly checks its practices against and applies to current context.

Lindsay works diligently to provide all of its learners with a personalized path. The planning and implementation team initially focused on competency-based learning and learner agency as they rebuilt the culture of learning.

What does open-walled learning look like in Lindsay? The district is now making strategic moves to emphasize open-walled and socially embedded learning. The district has provided devices for all learners, developed district-sponsored community wifi, built learning labs, incorporated socially-embedded projects, and created community internships for alternative education learners in support of the open walled learning component of the vision.

What has Lindsay given up in this journey?  First, they had to erase time structures. Grades of A-F no longer exist, and grades are no longer averaged. They shifted focus from academic proficiency to life-long learning. In addition to grading, they changed how they use space. All of the initial changes emphasized cultural shifts.

At the early stages of transformation, Lindsay changed their lexicon. Students were referred to as learners. Teachers evolved into learning facilitators because they no longer are the sage on the stage. Schools are now learning communities. Common language created a foundation for the shift.

Mental shifts were also required from early on. Everything was new and different, and this required a mindset shift for everyone.  What does it mean for the teacher who is no longer the stage on the stage, but now a facilitator?

In addition to mental hurdles, structural and systemic hurdles needed to be overcome – bell schedules, transcripts required by the state.

The district takes the same approach to personalization when working with parents and learning facilitators. For example, the site adminsitrators support learning facilitators with personalized professional learning.

Sessions for parents are offered and networks are developed so parents can better understand how new assessment systems work.

Before mindsets can be shifted, issues must be brought to the forefront and addressed. Consistency is key. Transparent feedback loops need to be developed while addressing mindset shifts.  Failure is a predictable and inherent part of all learning. Learners need to feel comfortable both giving and receiving feedback. Barry shared, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” This pervasive attitude cultivates a growth-oriented mindset.

It is essential to promote leadership roles for all stakeholders. Whether a learner leads within a project or outside of the classroom, everyone is expected to lead.

Barry shared some competencies for learner-centered leaders. Learner-centered leaders are future-focused visionaries who engage in deep listening, serve first, over-communicate, take risks, improve continuously, self-assess, and challenge each other.

Amalia encourages us to begin and stay with the learner at the center of the work. We need to align every decision, every purchase, every hire to the needs of the learners. Learners have needs that we don’t have structures to support. We have to build this as we go.  We cannot waiver from what is best for the learners.

Barry reminds us this work is heavy lifting. We need to remember to bring stakeholders, including learners, to the table to have these conversations.

Lewis reiterates the importance for transparency with the learners. Make sure the learners and their parents know what is going on in the system.

Connection to Practice

We are encouraging teachers to develop projects and learning experiences in which students develop collaboration skills.  We believe project-based learning can be leveraged to enact our learning beliefs in practice.

Building a shared vision is critical. We provided opportunities for our stakeholders to provide input into our Profile of a Graduate.  How can we better engage stakeholders in the on-going process?

We have made significant investments to remove the barrier of access for our learners. All learners 6-12 have access to a MacBook Air which they may take beyond the school walls. K-1 learners utilize a personal iPad, and learners in grades 2-5 have a personal MacBook Air to use in our schools.

This work is indeed heavy lifting. Transforming requires us to push previously-valued ideas to the side to make room for new and better ideas.

Everyone in our organization is a learner, and we are seeking the development of leadership in all of our stakeholders. Both of our elementary schools are Leader in Me schools in which the learners live Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits.

We need to be trusted critical friends for each other. Providing transparent, honest feedback is essential to moving forward in a more learner-centered system. How can we hold someone’s hand to move forward with this difficult work?

Questions Based on Our Context:

• How many of our learners do not have internet access at home? We are currently investigating piloting a wifi hotspot program to supplement our learners’ resources at home.
• How do we cultivate a culture of transparent feedback?
• How are we consistently sharing this message?
• How do we root all decisions in what is best for the learner?
• What do we have to “give up” or push aside to make room for the new?
• Do our learners, teachers, and leaders have critical friends?

Next Steps for Us:

• Develop our own lexicon for the district.
• Engage in conversations with our principals and teachers.

In Episode 17, we had a conversation with Bethlehem Elementary School’s  principal, Dr. Jessalyn Askew and teacher, Tiffany Early. Our conversation focused on the personalized learning efforts in Bethlehem Elementary and many interesting facets of learning and leadership: alternative assessments to demonstrate learning; shifting mindsets of learners, teachers and parents; providing space for teachers to take risks with instruction; ceding control; and cultivating and celebrating teachers.

Key Competency

Learner-centered leaders create risk-friendly environments. Teachers are encouraged by Jessalyn (and other teachers) to try new things and explore new ideas. Even when the learning is messy, teachers know Jessalyn will support their effort to take risks. Support comes in many forms: financial assistance, meaningful professional development, implementation of student-led conferences, and focused time. As the principal, Jessalyn gently nudges teachers out of their safety nets and supports their work so the teachers can “soar” and “fly.”

Takeaways

Jessalyn worked diligently to change the mindsets of learners, teachers, and parents. The school invites the parents into the classrooms to share what they are learning and doing regularly. Student-led conferences occur twice per year – once in the fall and once in the spring. During the student-led conferences, students share their work with their parents. Parents notice their students’ abilities in problem-solving and self-confidence increasing. As a result of this and the change in classroom instruction, parents are engaging in different conversations about school.

Cultivating learning beyond the school system is critical to the implementation of a new vision.  Jessalyn spoke about teachers opening their doors to other teachers in a model classroom approach. Model classrooms create an open door feel in the building, a culture of learning. In addition to learning from each other, teachers participate in site visits across the country to other systems to be able to see parts of their vision implemented elsewhere. This helps them bring the ideas alive in their own system.

Tiffany shared teachers in the sytem have had to relinquish control. Traditionally, the flow of knowledge comes from the teacher to the student. In this learning environment, the learning flows from everyone to everyone else. Teachers never know exactly where a lesson is going to go, and that can be scary. Students often come to classes with more knowledge than sometimes they get credit for, and that can cause fear.

One challenge of implementation was time. Because teachers do not have a set planning block, teachers receive two hour planning sessions twice a month to work on stations, playlists, and collaboration. Time is a commodity. During this two-hour block, students partiicpate in the makerspace for one hour and STEM for another hour.

Students’ voice changes everything. Students advocate for their choices and recognize themselves as peer teachers who get to decide what and how they learn.

Connection to Practice

We are supporting our building leaders and teachers in taking risks. Through the implementation of our Leading #YourSalisbury cohort, we are building capacity within our building teams to implement teacher-led professional learning and pilot a new idea through an independent professional learning project.

Time is often a challenge. We hear this from our teachers. Our teachers have nine professional learning days, but some of that time is consumed with specific initiatives or mandated trainings. How can we make the most effective use of our time? How can we create more time? Fortunately, all of our teachers have preparation time in their schedules.

Tiffany encourages us to think about our ideal learning environment, communicate that to the learners, and explain that there will be mistakes along the way. Do we talk about learning with our learners? Are we transparent about risk-taking?

Questions Based on Our Context:

• How often do our learners want to continue their work on the weekends?
• How do we promote professional learning beyond our building/district walls?
• Do our teachers LOVE to facilitate discussions with our learners?
• Are we allocating sufficient human and financial resources to support this transformation?

Next Steps for Us:

• Ask our teachers, “What is learning?”  Encourage our teachers to talk with their learners about their ideas about learning.
• Reflect on our work with our Leading #YourSalisbury team. Are we using the time effectively? Are we supporting our teachers and leaders effectively?